4 
Psyche 
[March 
it is at present. On the basis of the above described insect- 
cut leaf, the range of the Megachilidae is provisionally 
extended to the Eocene. 
Leaves Damaged by Phytophagous Insects 
Nearly half of the extant species of insects are phy- 
tophagous (Brues, 1946, p. 90) and phytophagy is generally 
assumed to be the primitive diet. It is perplexing, there- 
fore, that no example of the remains of fossil plants from 
the Paleozoic and lower and middle Mesozoic have been re- 
ported exhibiting healed wounds that could have been caused 
by insects. However, most Recent defoliators feed on angio- 
sperms and healed damages are rather common on fossil 
angiosperm leaves from the Cretaceous and Tertiary. 
A variety of healed injuries which appear to be due to 
phytophagous insects are shown on leaves figured on plate 
1, fig. 2, fig. 4, fig. 5, and fig. 7. Determination of the 
culprits responsible for the different types of damage is 
impossible. 
The “galleries” in the angiosperm leaves from the Wil- 
cox deposits mentioned and figured by Berry (1916, p. 32; 
pi. 23, fig. 3; pi. 31, fig. 1 and fig. 3; pi. 38, fig. 4; pi. 39, 
and pi. 92) and which were later referred to by Collins 
(1925, p. 406) are not the same as the meandering, elongate, 
narrow wounds surrounded by scar tissue on the portion 
of a Proteoides wilccxensis leaf shown enlarged in fig. 5. 
Explanation of Plate 1 
Figure 1. A fossil leaf, Neclandra pseudocoriacea Berry, from the 
Wilcox deposits of Puryear, Tennessee, bearing injuries inflicted by 
megachilid bees. Figure la. A portion of the above described leaf enlarged 
to twice natural size to show the scar tissue surrounding the injuries. 
Figure 2. A fossil leaf, Nectandra pseudocoriacea Berry, bearing healed 
wounds probably inflicted by defoliating phytophagous insects. Figure 3. 
A fossil leaf, Cupanites formosus Berry, bearing simple pouch galls. 
Figure 4. A fossil leaflet, Cassia sp., bearing healed wounds. Figure 5. 
A portion of a fossil leaf, Proteoides wilcoxensis Berry, enlarged four 
times to show healed meandering wounds. Figure 6. Fossil caddis fly 
case, Folindusia wilcoxiana Berry, found in association with the other 
figured specimens. Figure 7. A fossil leaf, Nectandra pseudocoriacea Berry, 
badly damaged by leaf-eating insects and bearing 11 galls. Figure 7a. 
A portion of figure 7 enlarged 10 times to show one of the galls. 
